Now, now, put away your kerosene-soaked torches, this is only a wild rumor. But keep them close in case this sheer lunacy turns out to be true…
Rich Johnston at BleedingCool.com posted a shiver-inducing article today which points out the possibility of a Watchmen sequel (or prequel or spin-off) becoming a reality sooner than you think.
The idea of more Watchmen surely isn’t a new one. Let’s face it, as a comic-book executive you would most certainly want to exploit one of the most successful stories of all time. Frankly I’m surprised we haven’t seen one already. And it’s not up to Alan Moore or Dave Gibbons, the suits at DC have their finger on that trigger. According to Johnston’s report, what kept more Watchmen shelved was DC Publisher and President Paul Levitz, who wished to honor Moore and Gibbons and the story itself by keeping it contained to the twelve issues. Since then, Levitz has stepped down from his position – to head the new DC Entertainment company – and now Senior VP Dan DiDio is gung ho on continuing with Watchmen.
Johnston also reports that Moore and Gibbons must be offered first refusal on any new Watchmen projects. While it’s highly unlikely that Gibbons would return, there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of Moore getting involved. Apparently DiDio has some names kicking around that would be a good fit, but with the politics and community surrounding the comic book industry, you have to wonder if writers and artists would be hesitant to meddle with one of the most celebrated stories of all time. On the flip side, that could be what entices them.
Aside from the Watchmen film, we’ve already come dangerously close to the expansion of the Watchmen universe. A spin-off video game, Watchmen: The End is Nigh, was released along with the film last year, though the creators were under strict limitations to adhere to characters and situations seen in the book and film. Rorschach also appeared in a splash piece shown in Wizard magazine to promote the DC series Countdown. The plan was to include the Watchmen universe and characters as one of the alternate Earths, but was ultimately scrapped.
In a perfect world, all this Watchmen sequel talk would remain just talk and live out it’s life in debate and discussion, but we most likely won’t be so lucky. There is a good chance we will see something happen within relative time. At this point we can only pray for the best, lower our expectations, or just plain don’t read it. Regardless, when it does hit, it will be huge. And don’t forget that the contracts the actors signed with Fox for the film did include a sequel clause.
That being said, do I really need to explain why this is a fucking terrible idea?
Instead of starting this Best Films of 2009 article with the typical sentimental introductory paragraph, let’s skip it. We know this year was awesome, one of the biggest in recent memory for quality films.
Here’s my top 10 of the year, in no specific order.
Watchmen
You know how people never forget where they were when Elvis died, or when they saw Star Wars for the first time? Going to the midnight screening of Watchmen will probably be that memory for me. This was, hands down, the most excited I’ve ever been for a film in my life. I bled the book for years, and lived through the marketing leading up to the release. It did not disappoint me, a scrutinous Watchmen fanboy. Though the debate rages on still, I stand firm when I say that director Zack Snyder did it. He filmed the un-filmable, and beautifully. Read my original review.
Best Worst Movie
The documentary about Troll 2, the “worst film ever made”, created by the child star of said film, is one of the most endearing, heart-felt and funny films of 2009. It’s a shame this film hasn’t yet received a wide-release, because given the chance I’m certain audiences of all walks will leave the theater feeling a mile high. Whether you are in on the kitsch or not, Best Worst Movie is unreasonably entertaining. Read my original review.
Zombieland
I went into Zombieland a tad skeptical, what with the zombie craze invading our pop-culture the last two years. I was pleasantly surprised by just how much fun this film is. It’s incredibly light and silly but the editing is slick and the characters own their dialogue. It’s great to see Woody Harrelson in a strong leading role, and the big cameo of the movie is truly a gem. Read my original review.
Avatar
James Cameron’s years-in-the-making sci-fi fantasy could be one of the most hyped films of all time. There’s no doubt that the film is blowing people’s minds worldwide, with most reviews on Twitter consisting of at least one four-letter word. While the film is far from perfect, it most certainly is an unparalleled movie-going experience. When you cut the bologna, Avatar is a ton of fun and a stand-out film of the year. Read my original review.
Trick ‘r Treat
This could be my new favorite Halloween film. It is entirely a seasonal celebration, a neo-classic horror anthology. Wonderfully written, directed and acted. How could you not watch this every October from now on? Read my original review.
Up
Pixar did it again, only this time they had me weeping (literally) within the first fifteen minutes. A timeless adventure tale featuring unconventional characters, Up nails every nail on the head while managing to appeal to every age. The visuals and design of the film are stunning, proving once again that you can create a exceptional story-telling and cinematography from scratch. Read my original review.
Drag Me To Hell
A lot of people touted Drag Me To Hell as Sam Raimi’s comeback to horror, as if he had somehow left. Granted he hadn’t done much in the genre, asides from producing several unremarkable horrors, since Evil Dead II. Drag Me To Hell proved though, that Raimi didn’t come back, he was always there, and wearing a crown. Seeing Drag Me To Hell is the most fun I’ve had in a theater for years. Sam Raimi is such a wonderful story-teller and mood-setter and he makes this film so easy to fall in love with from the first minute. While I wouldn’t want Raimi to stick solely to this horror-comedy genre he’s carved, as I do think hhe has proved he is more than capable of directing in various genres, I would love to see him return to what he does best every now and then. Drag Me To Hell is a loud love letter to Looney Tunes and gross-out horror. Read my original review.
District 9
If there were one film to stand out from all others this year, it’s District 9. Completely original and unique, the film pushes new ground in both special effects and it’s story. District 9 is most definitely the science-fiction champion of the year. Read my original review.
Inglourious Basterds
What happens when you give Quentin Tarantino an over-sized World War II history book, an eraser, a pencil, and two cans of Jolt Cola? You get one of the best films of the year, an indelible, addicting, outrageous passion project from one of the most creative directors alive. Inglourious Basterds works on every single level. It’s entirely silly and poetic at the same time. The characters are intensely turned up to eleven while delivering amazing performances and giving us lines we will no doubt be quoting still ten years from now. This film will be considered a classic. Read my original review.
Star Trek
J.J. Abrams made Star Trek cool for everyone. Though not without its flaws, Star Trek is the most re-watchable film of the year. The film is insanely fun while injecting just the right amount of old-school Trek mythology. Who didn’t love this flick? Nobody, that’s who. Read my original review.
There you have it for my personal best of the year. It certainly wasn’t a hard task for once, considering the amount of quality we were given. As always, there were a bunch of films I have not had the chance to see as of this writing (among them being Antichrist, Up In The Air, The Hurt Locker, and the yet to be released Sherlock Holmes), so take me being lazy into account when you judge this here list.
I would like to give honorable mentions to the following films.
Daybreakers, which most certainly would have a spot on this list; although I have seen (and loved) the film, it technically doesn’t see release until 2010.
Observe and Report, which is one of those films that suffered from terrible/inappropriate marketing. The film is pretty bold and dark, at times outrageous. Unfortunately it gets painted with the same shitty brush-stroke as Paul Blart: Mall Cop. You need to see this if you haven’t yet.
I may be flamed for this one, but Crank 2 is incredible. Just as ridiculous and fun as the first film, which was also marketed completely wrong. This is inventive film-making at its most psychotic.
Now what would a best list be without a worst? I can’t even bear to stew on these shit films anymore so I’ll just tell you, the worst films of the year are Terminator Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Box and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. May they burn in hell for all eternity.
Here’s to 2010 everyone, may you have a safe and happy new years from all of us in Team Squid.
CONTEST WINNER:
Congratulations to Adam of Joppa, MD for winning this here giveaway!
You smell that in the air?
That’s Watchmen fever coming back, as we gear up for next week’s release of Watchmen – The Director’s Cut on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Well to celebrate this epic event in home video release we here at Giant Killer Squid are giving away a copy of the two-disc DVD to one lucky reader.
What do you have to do? Nothing!
Between now and next Thursday, July 23rd, send an email over to contest [at] giantkillersquid [dot] com with ‘WATCHMEN DVD’ in the subject line. Be sure to
include your full name and address and while you’re at it tell us your favorite scene in the movie.
The winner will be announced next Friday, July 24th and will also notified via email.
Check out the specs below for the DVD in question:
Someone’s killing our super heroes. The year is 1985 and super heroes have banded together to respond to the murder of one of their own. They soon uncover a sinister plot that puts all of humanity in grave danger. The super heroes fight to stop the impending doom only to find themselves a target for annihilation. But, if our super heroes are gone, who will save us?
Disc 1:
Director’s cut of the film (186 minutes) Disc 2:
The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics (30 min.)
Webisodes (38 min.)
Music Video: My Chemical Romance Desolation Row (3 min.)
Digital Copy – Theatrical version
Hey there fellow squidies, welcome to this weeks selected new releases for July 14 and July 21 2009. It is yet another lackluster selection for this edition, so without further delay, lets get to it.
New Releases for July 14, 2009
The Haunting in Connecticut (Unrated Special Edition) The consensus for this film was mixed, some highly praising while others were completely disappointed by it. Based on actual events, follows the tradition of other real life event horrors such as Amityville Horror and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. If that’s your thing, definitely worth a gander.
Horsemen
Dennis Quaid has certainly been a busy man these days expanding hisating resume and lately he has ventured off into the realm of thriller/horror. Horsemen is no different as he plays a detective searching for a serial killer using the four horsemen predicted in the book of revelations as their rationale for these killings. I for one will be checking this one out, as a Quaid fan.
[Rec] This little Spanish horror film is truly awesome. A news team is trapped in a sealed off apartment building where all kinds of terror waitShot almost documentary style, [REC] is further proof that for the most part, us North Americans can’t make horror films worth shit. Chose this over Quarantine, the American remake of [REC].
Click the links below for the above DVD’s available from our friends at Amazon.com Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season
How this show survived and made it to a second season is beyond me, having watched a few episodes in the first season, being somewhat of a Chi McBride fan and a little curious. The concept of a pie maker with the abilty to bring individuals and animals back to life seemed like a stretch, was a bit of a stretch, give me Eli Stone over this any day.
Watchmen (Director’s Cut)
I will only touch briefly on this one, as Ryan has already done a post in regards to the release of this underrated flick. Giant blue members aside, Watchmen is a comic readers wet dream, a film solely made for the fans of the comic, a rarity among comic book based films. I HIGHLY recommend this one for your viewing pleasure.
So until next time, happy viewing and keep your remote handy.
The wait is almost over for Zach Snyder’s incredible film adaptation of Watchmen to hit DVD and Blu-Ray. The film will be released to retailers this July 21st and this one is a must-own for fans, Blu-Ray-philes and Watchmen fiends alike. As with most comic-book-super-fan-summer films, this movie will no doubt see an endless amount of releases and re-releases each with the most superficial of differences. But to us mega-fans, does it really even matter.
The film will initially be released in a two-disc Director’s Cut – a theatrical version is available on DVD only – with a third, coaster-worthy digital copy disc. This Director’s Cut has a run-time of over 3 hours; that’s approximately 30 mins of more footage than was shown in the theatrical version. Full details on what these scenes will include are still pretty unknown with the exception being the well-known-filmed on-screen death of the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason.
Full Disc Specs:
Disc 1 (BD-50):
Director’s cut of the film (186 minutes)
Interactive “Ultimate Watchmen Experience”
BD-Live
Disc 2 (BD-25):
The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics (30 min.)
Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes (27 min.)
Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World (27 min.)
Webisodes (38 min.)
Music Video: My Chemical Romance Desolation Row (3 min.)
Disc 3 (DVD):
Digital Copy – Theatrical version
If you’re more of a collector, there are some special-er editions of this release. Blu-Ray owners can pick up Amazon.com’s exclusive Nite Owl Ship collector’s set which features the three Director’s Cut discs hidden inside a pretty cool looking statuette of Nite Owl’s ship, Archie. Apparently this beaut has lights and sounds. Again, it’s only exclusive to those shopping online at Amazon.com, and has a fairly hefty price tag of $79.99.
My local Best Buy is also advertising this hideous Rorschach mask packaging for both DVD and Blu-Ray,while HMV UK is offering a similar package with the lifeless face of Dr. Manhattan. Creepy.
Zach Snyder has also been dropping hints for a “Black Freighter” cut of the film, essentially the Director’s Cut with the previously released animated story-within-a-story, The Black Freighter, cut into the film throughout the full run-time. This edition, which really only has appeal to hardcore fans, would run approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes. No release date or further details have been released.
I know I will be having one hell of a Watchmen party on July 21st, and you’re all welcome to come over and enjoy Watchmen on Blu-Ray in all it’s glory.
Alright kids, it’s been a couple months and I’ve amassed a whole bunch of consumerables for the second edition of STIW. Here’s the best of the best, in quick and dirty rawdog style:
Nerf N-Strike Vulcan EBF-25 Blaster
Jesus H. Christ, look at that thing. Nerf really hasn’t been cool since the crotch-bat really… until I came across this beast (almost quite literally), the N-Strike Vulcan EBF-25 Blaster. The EBF stands for Everyone’s Balls Fucked. I dunno. This is the T-101 of air powered sponge artillery. Some of its features: ammo box, folding tripod, 25-dart belt and 25 SONIC MICRO DARTS. What the hell is a sonic micro dart? I have no clue, but I need to find out. Retails for around $40.
And, according to the image below, you can fire it into another dude’s ass!
It is scientific fact that footwear could not be any more bad-ass than this. Unless you strapped hatchet-laden corpses to your feet, but that’s illegal and morally deplorable. So instead, Vans – the creators of the equally awesome Iron Maiden shoes (which I own) – stepped up and gave us the next best thing: shoes inspired by artwork from Mastodon’s Blood Mountain record. Though it would’ve been a wet dream to have shoes from Leviathan or even Crack The Skye, I can’t complain, these are fucking epic. Both version come in hi-top or low-top and I have no clue how much they retail for. I paid $30 for the Iron Maiden ones.
I’ve been on the market for one of these sexy little pocket cams for a while now, and it seems that pretty much across the board the Creative Vado HD delivers boners to even the most fickle of tech-wieners. This palm-sized camera boasts an impressive 2 hours of recording/playback at 720p, a hefty 8GB of internal memory, a decent 2″ screen and a slide-out USB for pulling out, stuffing in, and unloading all the stuff you’ve just accumulated. That’s what she said.
It doesn’t hurt that the footage this baby captures is really damn amazing from such a compact machine. Better yet is that it retails for less than $230. Check out the official site.
Watchmen Blu-Ray ‘Owlship’ Collector’s Edition
It’s exciting enough just having Watchmen on DVD and Blu-Ray so soon (July 21), but this gave me a big nerdy one… the Amazon.com exclusive Owlship collector’s set. This bad boy can only be purchased online. Just look at that. What a beaut. The set includes the special edition 2-disc blu-ray of the film, lame-ass digital copy which no one will use, and a ridiculously awesome miniature Owlship replica that holds the discs and has lights and sounds. The only thing that would make this better is if it had the technology to blow me while I watch the film. But then again, that could be distracting.
This is one of those things that I really want, but will never, ever own. It’s fairly simple in technology, a juke-box for the future, if you will, that stores all of your DVD discs and then you use the remote in your 500 pound, Cheeto-dust smothered hand, to select the movie you want and it cues it up for you. Because five feet really is that far. Regardless of its complete lack of practicality, it is pretty damn cool. And Sony’s gearing up to launch this mega changer that will hold 400 Blu-Ray discs. Are there even 400 Blu-Ray’s available? Oof. I’m so balls deep in Blu-Ray right now. I want this. It will no doubt retail for $1,000,000 and the only people who will have it are Larry Flynt looking oil tycoons obsessed with Indecent Proposal and Dirty Dancing in 1080p.
Check out Engadget’s piece on the 400 disc calorie saver here.
Well that wraps up another volume of SH*T THAT I WANT. If you have any ideas for items for future volumes, or just foudn some really bad-ass stuff that you want, let us know.
Hot Toys has announced the full specs for the figure, as well as a whole bunch of images.
She stands approx. 30cm tall with over 26 points of articulation. Other features include:
- Movie accurate leather costume, gloves, belt and trenchcoat.
- Interchangeable gloved hands.
- Figure stand.
This ridiculously detailed collectible will be available Q3 of this year. Check out the new images below…
It’s not often I get to give the toys some love here on GKS (not that kind of toy, you pervert), so this little tease makes me giddy for some plastic (get your head out of the gutter, sicko).
A while back we showed you what I called “the coolest toy ever made”, the Hot Toys MMS DX01 1:6 scale Dark Knight Joker. Whew, that toy was a mouthful (seriously, stop being gross). Well months after it’s release, Hot Toys is finally gearing up to release their 1/6 scale collectible figures based on characters from Watchmen.
Only a teaser image has been released as of yet, and so far Silk Spectre (Laurie) is the only character confirmed. What we can bet on, is that this figure will be pretty epic. And sexy. And expensive.
So take a peek at the teaser image below, and we will have more info as we get it, including full specs and images.
When I heard about them doing this DVD for Watchmen I thought wow, this could be really cool. As a big fan already for the book I thought this was a great idea, but why didn’t they just include it in the movie. As we all found out that it would just be too long, it was a shame because this would have really brought together the story in a different way I think. Maybe even give the movie more of the same feel of the comic book then it already has.
Let’s start first with the animated film Tales of The Black Freighter. I personally really enjoyed it. The animation was great and wasn’t done as just some cheap put together to get this out there. With Gerard Butler doing the voice for the film it definitely brought something to the table. I had read somewhere, and I can’t remember the source, but Gerard Butler really wanted a part in the Watchmen movie, and after working with Zack Snyder on 300, he had asked if he could have one. Well Zack told Gerard that he would see what he could do, but nothing came of that. Then when Zack Snyder put forward the idea to Warner Brothers for this animated short, he automatically brought Gerard into the picture. Which I thought was great. At times as you are watching it you can hear 300 Gerard, and at others you can hear RockNRolla Gerard, but most of the time the voice in unrecognizable and that’s a good thing. The voice by the end becomes its own and really works.
Although the animated short is not shot for shot, word for word, it is pretty damn close. I really enjoyed it for what it was, but for some reason it really didn’t connect to me like the story in the Watchmen comic did. So I’m very curious to see how the extended directors cut will come out with this animated version laced through the original film.
Now I heard of the Under The Hood bonus feature and although it sounded interesting, I didn’t really get too excited about it. Well interesting enough, I actually enjoyed that more than the animated short. It was really great and kept my attention for the whole thirty something minutes. I actually felt like the Watchmen world was really alive and that this was a real documentary. It was too cool. I mean they interviewed all the actually actors from the film, which what more can you ask for. Plus characters that we got such a little glimpse of in the movie, got full parts in this documentary. It was great to hear from Bernard the news vendor, Edgar Jacob aka Moloch the Mystic, and Wally Weaver to name a few. Then even having Hollis Mason doing the whole Under The Hood thing, and Silhouette making such a big appearance really made this better than I could’ve ever imagined.
The first time I read through Watchmen I have to admit that all the extra book clips and what not at the end of each chapter really didn’t catch my interest. Don’t get me wrong, I read them, but after reading them the third or fourth time after reading the actual story three or four times, I really got into it. The opening chapter in Under The Hood is one of the best written pieces I think in the Watchmen book all together (I admit, most of the writing in that book was the best, but this was just one of many.) So to see these few chapters from Under The Hood brought to life was really great. I just enjoyed believing for thirty something minutes that all this stuff whether it be the book of the movie, could somehow be real.
For extras it includes Story Within a Story: The Books of Watchmen, which is a documentary of the making of both Tales of the Black Freighter and Under The Hood. It’s cool and definitely worth watching. Also in has the Watchmen Motion Comic Chapter One, which if you haven’t already seen it, worth checking out. Last is a First Look at Green Lantern which is very cool and worth a watch.
So as you can tell by this, and my Watchmen movie review, I love anything Watchmen. I’m not the type to nitpick and bring it down, I just really like to enjoy what we get served. If you’ve seen the movies, let me know what you think, or any questions or comments just post them. Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did.
Quantum of Solace
Quantum of Solace… has anyone figured out what that means yet? As the first true sequel of a James Bond film, it’s the follow up of what most claim to be the best bond film ever, Casino Royale. So how do you go from the best and make it better? Well in this case, you don’t. While Casino Royale was an action movie, it was still layered with character growth and relationships that shaped a character that we all know and love today. Casino Royale really gave us the feeling that we know where James Bond is from and why he is the way he is. Quantum of Solace just lacked all of this and was just a straight action film.
Not that there’s anything wrong with action, quite the contrary. I really do love great action sequences and explosions and shoot outs just as much as the next action junkie, but the fact that Casino Royale was so damn good, Quantum of Solace just felt lacking in the story department. Marc Foster who directed it did an amazing job with what he had. Shot for shot it was great. The opening sequence of the car chase with the Aston Martin was the most edge of your seat experience I’ve had in a long time. The opening chase with Bond and the double agent during the interrogation was great. And the boat sequence was something you have to see to believe. But then where did this all go wrong? Well like I said it lacked any emotional attachment to the characters. Especially when I heard that Marc Foster was doing this I thought great, this is the guy that brought us The Kite Runner and Monsters Ball, both great character building pieces where you are able to invest your feelings into the characters. Boy was I wrong.
He did try to develop the relationship with Bond and Camille, who like Bond, is seeking revenge, but it never pans through. Bond is so disconnected after losing Vesper in the first one that he has no feelings for anyone and has become a cold hard killer. What I thought was interesting is that the trailer made it look like there was going to be so much more to it, but again, just seemed to lack.
As for the DVD itself it looked great. I really felt that the colors were bright and the transfer from the big screen was spot on. And if you have a nice sound system, turn up the base, trust me, it’s worth it. For extras they pack in a few. It has its trailers, two to be exact and a music video called Die Another Day which is worth one watch at least. Then it has a feature that is called Bond on Location which are really cool videos of where all the locations were and watching the stunts being performed is really cool. Start of Shooting is a feature that is a short documentary styled video of the cast and crew talking about their parts in making the film. Then there’s On Location which is another short docu style of the camera set ups and the difficulty behind them. Last of the Bond on Location features is Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase which is a cool short on how they shot just that, the boat chase. Another short video is called Director Marc Foster Featurette which is another interesting short video with some cool info. The Music Featurette is a short video on the composer David Arnold who I thought did an amazing job of working on the music. Last is something called Crew Files which is the longest of the features and offers some great outtakes.
Now after beating up the movie so much I come to this. I really did enjoy it, I know I complained about the lack of character development, but that’s the screenwriter side of me lashing out for something that bothered me. The film junkie side who loves everything movies did really love this movie. I thought overall it was a great ride that keeps you going from beginning to end with fast paced action that is a ride that I really think everyone should get on board once. If you’re a Bond fan do yourself a favor and see it. If you just want a good action movie to sit down and watch then definitely consider this. Let me know what you think.
Alright kids, we’ve got a real treat for you here…
If you read my review, you’ll remember me creaming over the intro sequence of the Watchmen film – a 5+ minute series of “living” photographs chronicling the lives and fates of the Minutemen, and important points in the history of the characters of the book. I had goose bumps throughout the entire thing, dare I say it is the best part of the whole movie and one of the most well-crafted opening sequences of any movie.
If you haven’t seen the film yet, I would strongly recommend against watching it here online; get out there and truly experience it as part of the film. If you have seen the movie, well, kick back and enjoy this little sequence all over again.
I am not a fan of Watchmen, there I said it. It’s out there in the open. But it’s not what you think. It is not because I hate it or think its absolute garbage, nor is it because I am unmanly. Simply put, unlike Dr. Manhattan’s genitalia, I have not been exposed to it. The first I heard of it, aside from maybe a few references that were brushed off as nonsense, was when the project was announced in 2007. I had never really ever given any thought about it. Now here I am, the lone wolf on a site partially dedicated to the wonderment that is The Watchmen, standing outside looking in. So what is this outsiders thoughts on all this? Well in short, I am excited and eager to go and view the film for myself and borrow, if not buy the graphic novels myself and read it. However, given the media circus that has plagued it since fall of 2008, I have become less interested. Here is this outsiders story.
Typically I hate hype and the constant attention that blockbusters and long awaited films receive. I find it bombards my senses and in some cases ruins what could be an enjoyable film. Granted there are a few exceptions, such as The Dark Knight and Iron Man, but generally speaking, it bothers me immensely. This brings me to Watchmen. They hype was not as bad when the project was announced, there were a few hip hip hoorays and various discussions around the web on what this meant. Then Zack Snyder was hired on to direct, and the hype grew. Casting and filming began, and finally the first trailer was released and that’s when it finally became a big deal to me. Everyone could not stop talking about how great it was going to be. But that all died down and you heard the occasional quip. Up to this point this had just the right amount of hype for me, everything was going well, and then Fox came in and rained on the parade.
When Fox issued the lawsuit, everything Watchmen became everything lawsuit. It wasn’t the Watchmen film any more, it was now referred to as the Watchmen Lawsuit. And because of that I lost my excitement, it’s all that mattered but it was understandable. Had the lawsuit gone a completely different route, Watchmen may have never have seen the light of day, and the roads would become bathed in blood, mobs of costumed fanboys would run rampant. A bit extreme, but you get my drift. For someone like myself, this was a huge turn off. The media frenzy and the constant discussion about it frustrated me, and I downright lost interest.
The good news though is that through all of this, in recent days since the screenings and opening day, reviews have slowly swayed me in the theaters directions. I have a strong feeling that Watchmen will be a film talked about years down the road, and it would be a pity to miss out on such an event, because seldom these days are there films that receive constant attention long after their theatrical release. In this outsiders opinion, every outsider should fore go debate and make their way, with popcorn and drinks in hand to your seat and partake in something that is sure to be revered as a comic book masterpiece.
I know I will make my attempt and go see it for myself.
“None of you understand. I’m not locked up in here with you.You’re locked up in here with me.” – Rorschach
Lets start off with saying I LOVED the film. And yes I’ve read the graphic novel. Not once because I just became a fan recently, no I’ve read it several times in the last five years. I loved it the first time I read it and since then I have loved it even more through each read. It’s one of those books that you can read and discover new things every time though. Even better is in the artwork as there’s so much to be discovered.
Now for the review. If you have yet to see it I recommend going no further. THERE ARE SPOILERS!!!!
Quick side note: I saw it in IMAX. If you have the opportunity to see it in IMAX, do it. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
The movie opens with the Comedian getting thrown from his apartment.Now we all know how in the book it happens over the course of a few pages, intercut with the investigation.In the movie we get treated with a full fight sequence that by the end left the biggest smile on my face. This was the last thing I expected, and yes, it was awesome. Zack Snyder has created a style of fighting that is graphic but so damn cool to watch. It made me want to go back and watch just that scene again.
From there we enter the credits. Now they did this in such a cool fashion by giving a bit of history of the caped heroes through little live action clips of the past. I really enjoyed the JFK and Comedian part. That was a perfect example of why I loved this movie because it was completely for the fans. In the book when the Comedian is being commended for being an American hero, he makes what seems to be a joke about just don’t ask him where he was during the JFK assassination. Snyder including the scene made the movie that much better for me.
From here we take off with Rorschach and it is all good from here. We get told the story we all know and love with minor differences here and there. The ending they changed, but I’m sure most of us went in there expecting that given they let us know they took out the giant killer squid months ago. They definitely left a lot out, but for a movie it was highly enjoyable.
I had two minor problems. The first being the setup with Rorschach getting caught by the police. It was well done with the whole Moloch set up in the book as he was a character that was developed. In the movie with the lack of development of Moloch when Rorschach was caught it felt disappointing. I understood that because of the pyramid symbol on the letter was what led Rorschach to investigate again, but the whole series of events that led up to this in the book was dropped. To me, that just felt weak.
Then the music. I love the soundtrack. All of the music in amazing, but I just felt as if it was kind of forced on the scenes. I love the song from the trailer by Philip Glass Ensemble and when they used it for Dr. Manhattans part it worked. All the mainstream music just felt kind of off. I know it’s a comic book movie and the whole Dan and Sally to Hallelujah was supposed to be funny but I just wasn’t feeling it. Don’t get me wrong, it made me chuckle, but I prefer the whole orchestrated music for good comic book movies like Batman personally.
I know some people may complain about the acting but I thought it was spot on. The sound effects were great, and the editing was amazing. One thing that I’ve always really enjoyed in the books is the parallel storytelling. When Sally breaks down to Dan about Jon, and Jon is getting ready for the interview and how what she is saying in crossing over with Jon getting ready is brilliant. I was really happy to see that cross over to the film in many of the scenes.
So if you have seen it, tell me what you think. If you disagree with me, post it. I really enjoyed it and I want to know if you all did too. And if you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?
It’s a little over 24 hours before I’ll be in the theater anxiously waiting for the midnight screening of Watchmen to start. This is the film we’ve been waiting decades for.
Although you will find my full review of the film here at Giant Killer Squid, it’s Watchmen Week over at Forces of Geek! - a website that I contribute to on a regular basis – and I’ve written an article that sheds some light on my history with the book and my expectations and predictions for the film. Check out the article below.
Had you asked me five years ago if we would ever see any sort of Watchmen merchandise, you would be on the receiving end of a good laugh in the face and subsequent sounds of a grown man weeping. This was because I never thought it would ever happen. Watchmen has been treated, and rightfully so, as one of those treasured properties that has managed to avoid the marketing monster machine since its creation in 1986. A few sparse art books and a novelty wristwatch were produced, but other than that, there has been only a handful of die hard geeks dressing up as Rorschach on Halloween.
Oh but is that about to change. With the movie hitting theaters in five weeks, Warner Bros. and DC are spewing out the wares, undoubtedly to bleed my pockets dry. Now, while I will have no use for a Dr. Manhattan lunch box, as obsessively compulsive a Watchmen fan as I am, everything else will belong to me in time. And it started today with the first wave of DC Direct figures.
This isn’t the first time Watchmen figures have been created though. In 2001 DC Direct, the collectibles division of DC Comics, attempted to make series of figures commemorating the 15th anniversary of the book. Apparently Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the co-creators of the book, nay-sayed such toys and halted the project in the prototype phase (seen below).
The new set of figures, based on character likenesses from the upcoming movie, are almost worth the wait. Series one consists of Rorschach, Nite Owl II, Silk Spectre II and Ozymandias. Each figure comes in a beautiful four-color window box. The figures feature around eleven points of articulation and come packaged with a great display base; the bases can also be clipped together, for display purposes.
Check out some of the snaps I took of the first series below. Series II should hit specialty stores in mid to late February, with Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian, and the original Silk Spectre and Nite Owl to round up the series. Variant figures include a maskless Rorschach and a transparent Dr. Manhattan, and if you’ve got the big bucks, pick up the 1:6 scale Dr. Manhattan, Comedian and Rorschach deluxe figures.
Now, now, put away your kerosene-soaked torches, this is only a wild rumor. But keep them close in case this sheer lunacy turns out to be true…
The wait is almost over for Zach Snyder’s incredible film adaptation of Watchmen to hit DVD and Blu-Ray. The film will be released to retailers this July 21st and this one is a must-own for fans, Blu-Ray-philes and Watchmen fiends alike. As with most comic-book-super-fan-summer films, this movie will no doubt see an endless amount of releases and re-releases each with the most superficial of differences. But to us mega-fans, does it really even matter.
– a theatrical version is available on DVD only – with a third, coaster-worthy digital copy disc. This Director’s Cut has a run-time of over 3 hours; that’s approximately 30 mins of more footage than was shown in the theatrical version. Full details on what these scenes will include are still pretty unknown with the exception being the well-known-filmed on-screen death of the original Nite Owl, Hollis Mason.
which features the three Director’s Cut discs hidden inside a pretty cool looking statuette of Nite Owl’s ship, Archie. Apparently this beaut has lights and sounds. Again, it’s only exclusive to those shopping online at Amazon.com, and has a fairly hefty price tag of $79.99.
The first time I read through Watchmen I have to admit that all the extra book clips and what not at the end of each chapter really didn’t catch my interest. Don’t get me wrong, I read them, but after reading them the third or fourth time after reading the actual story three or four times, I really got into it. The opening chapter in Under The Hood is one of the best written pieces I think in the Watchmen book all together (I admit, most of the writing in that book was the best, but this was just one of many.) So to see these few chapters from Under The Hood brought to life was really great. I just enjoyed believing for thirty something minutes that all this stuff whether it be the book of the movie, could somehow be real.
As for the DVD itself it looked great. I really felt that the colors were bright and the transfer from the big screen was spot on. And if you have a nice sound system, turn up the base, trust me, it’s worth it. For extras they pack in a few. It has its trailers, two to be exact and a music video called Die Another Day which is worth one watch at least. Then it has a feature that is called Bond on Location which are really cool videos of where all the locations were and watching the stunts being performed is really cool. Start of Shooting is a feature that is a short documentary styled video of the cast and crew talking about their parts in making the film. Then there’s On Location which is another short docu style of the camera set ups and the difficulty behind them. Last of the Bond on Location features is Olga Kurylenko and the Boat Chase which is a cool short on how they shot just that, the boat chase. Another short video is called Director Marc Foster Featurette which is another interesting short video with some cool info. The Music Featurette is a short video on the composer David Arnold who I thought did an amazing job of working on the music. Last is something called Crew Files which is the longest of the features and offers some great outtakes.
